Olson's Greenhouses focuses on sustainability, economic viability

When Clive V. Olson and Matt Piscitelli acquired Olson’s Greenhouses in Raynham, Mass., in April 2006, the company was recognized as a wholesale production leader in New England. However, the 225,000 square feet of greenhouses were old and in dire need of upgrading. The company burned up to a staggering 500,000 gallons of recycled waste oil annually to heat the greenhouses.

Operation assessment
The first thing Olson and Piscitelli did was to assess their entire operation and develop a seven-year business plan that focused on economic viability, sustainability and environmental awareness. For the past 25 years, the company had recycled waste oil to cost effectively heat the greenhouses. The waste oil came from various sources, including home and industrial oil-heating systems. The discarded waste oil required a labor-intensive cleaning process to eliminate water and sludge. The solids from the treated oil was placed in drums and then had to be transported to a disposal site several hours away in order to meet Environmental Protection Agency and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection regulations.

 Seeking a cost effective and environmentally sound solution, the two owners looked for a partner with experience and access to various oil sources. In 2007, they entered into an environmental management services agreement with GS EnviroServices in Lowell, Mass.

 Olson and Piscitelli decided to use a blend of waste oils that were manufactured into a low-cost fuel. Most of the oil comes from the tank cleanings of large ships as well as auto service centers and large manufacturing facilities.

 “The cost per gallon is about 60 percent of a raw gallon of oil as quoted on the New York Stock Exchange,” Piscitelli said. “The fuel blend, which complies with our permit requirements, includes waste oil, machine oil, crank case oil, greases and biofuels such as food production byproducts.

“Typically, a greenhouse burns No. 2 fuel oil. Our costs for the blend that we burn is about 40 percent less. Heating oil produces 138,500 Btu and our blend burns at about 140,000 Btu. No. 2 fuel burns up to 93 percent efficiently. Our waste oil blend isn’t as efficient so we require more fuel. With the new blend we saw a 15 percent reduction in the amount of fuel burned to heat the same square feet of greenhouse area (year on year comparison).”
 
All of the greenhouses are now heated with low pressure steam generated by two Cleaver-Brooks 600 horsepower boilers. By eliminating production of its poinsettia crop, Olson’s is now burning 275,000 gallons of waste oil annually.

Structures upgrade
While the two owners were finding a cheaper, more consistent source of heating oil, they also sought to upgrade their greenhouses. Eric Olson, Clive’s older brother, heads up a maintenance crew of five employees, who are doing the greenhouse renovation. During the renovation, the employees dismantled the oldest 13,000-square-foot glass greenhouse.

“We replaced 100,000 square feet of glass houses with pipe-framed structures covered with double polyethylene film and polycarbonate endwalls,” Piscitelli said. “We also updated 75,000 square feet of wood frame, poly covered houses with pipe, poly film and polycarbonate. We have 50,000 square feet of houses left to refurbish. There are no structures left with glass. Even the houses that still need to be refurbished are now covered with double poly.”

One of the first changes made to the structures was to move the existing heating pipes so trucks could move around the greenhouse range more efficiently. The 8-inch insulated steam pipes, which are located outside of the greenhouses, were raised on stanchions/pipe supports.

“Our own trucks would have to drive around the greenhouses to avoid hitting the overhead pipes, and we still had incidents of pipes being damaged,” Piscitelli said. “Now that the heating pipes have been raised an additional 4 feet, a 53-foot truck can now enter the property, drop its load and leave without concern about damaging the pipes.
 
The maintenance crew is in the process of upgrading the last 50,000 square feet of greenhouses by removing fan and louver systems and installing roof vents and roll-up sides. The installation of these natural ventilation improvements has reduced electrical costs by 12 percent. Eighty percent of the structures have been renovated.
 
Another upgrade implemented by Olson and Piscitelli was to pave all of the dirt roadways that connect the greenhouses with asphalt. This has made the movement of plants and other materials as well as shipping and deliveries much more efficient.
 
“We can now roll a cart on asphalt from any greenhouse to another or to the loading dock,” Piscitelli said. “The asphalt driveways allowed us to switch to delivery carts in the spring of 2007 which enabled us to remove all of the shelving from our delivery trucks. We can load our trucks much more quickly with the carts and now have 20 percent more shipping space on each of our 24-foot delivery trucks.”
 
The paved areas also permitted the use of electric utility carts that were retrofitted with flat-beds which enables orders to be pulled for delivery to the loading dock or to the customer pick-up area. The maintenance crew also has its own retrofitted carts with utility beds to transport tools and other equipment.

While Olson’s is primarily a wholesale grower, the company expanded its customer base this year by opening a second retail garden center on site. It was named Lovely Day Garden Center after a well-known saying of Clive’s father, “It’s a lovely day.” Clive has managed Olson’s Garden Center in Wareham, Mass., for 18 years.

Field production changes
Changes are also occurring in the company’s outdoor production area. There are 30 acres of field production for fall crops including mums, asters, ornamental kale and cabbage, Swiss chard, Montauk daisies, fall grasses and other accent plants. The company has leased another 65 acres in Raynham, which it plans to use for the production of alternative crops including woody cuts (hydrangeas, lilacs and viburnums) during the next three years.
 
Just as Olson and Piscitelli have implemented sustainable practices inside the greenhouses, they have done the same with their field production. The 175,000 field-grown mums are watered with drip irrigation which has saved on water and reduced fungicide applications. Water is delivered in specific a.m./p.m. split cycles.
 
“The nutrient requirements for the 2007 and 2008 mum crops were monitored and we were able to cut our fertilizer rates by one-third,” said Piscitelli. “After a review of our field tests including soil samples, we found no adverse affect to plant size or quality. We were able to maintain the proper color and growth with a reduced nutrient level along with the proper moisture level supplied by the drip system.”
 
While planning the expansion of their outdoor production, Olson and Piscitelli were looking for ways to be more sustainable. Outdoor production is part of a 250-acre site preserved under the Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Restriction Act. The primary purpose of the APR program is to preserve and protect agricultural land from being developed for non-agricultural purposes or used for any activity detrimental to agriculture. Olson and Piscitelli are also working closely with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service to develop a farm plan for the area.
 

For more: Olson’s Greenhouses Inc., (508) 822-1151; www.olsonsgreenhouses.com.